Fictionalized drama detailing the genesis of the 1970s' skateboarding counterculture in Southern California, focusing on three teenage friends -- timid Stacy Peralta (John Robinson), cocky Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk) and self-destructive Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch) -- who, through a combination of street moxie and surfer mentality, revolutionized the sport and were catapulted to rock-star celebrity. Despite fine performances from Hirsch and Rasuk and kinetic skateboarding sequences, the vapid film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and based on Peralta's own 2003 documentary, "Dogtown & Z-Boys," never rises above a conventional study of adolescent rebelliousness, with its more interesting elements -- the characters' broken home life, the corrosive allure of fame and money -- receiving shallow treatment. Sexual situations involving minors, some violence, underage drinking and drug use, reckless and delinquent behavior, as well as recurring crude language and gestures. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.